enbcfsobe
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2007
- Messages
- 1,154
i stopped into a local lapidary''s shop over lunch. i''ve been there a few times before and had one custom piece done as a gift. i''m starting to feel like his prices on faceted stones are high (although his prices for custom metalwork seem fair), but i feel like i''m at a disadvantage in evaluating prices.
i was looking at two oval green tourmalines with a fairly strong yellow-green secondary color (making for an avocadoey overall color, one was around 3.5ct and the other was just over 4ct. he said the per carat price would be $200/ct.
this seemed like a lot given that they weren''t chrome tourmalines or paraibas or anything fancy like that. the cuts were fine (not windowed, good meet points) and they were eye clean, but they weren''t anything terribly creative or impressive -- just decent non-windowed ovals with some darkness in the ends.
what is a good way to get a reality check on prices? maybe this is a fairer price for a B&M store than I realize, but I have only bought online in the past. how do i find other "apples" to compare it to?
your advice is much appreciated...
i was looking at two oval green tourmalines with a fairly strong yellow-green secondary color (making for an avocadoey overall color, one was around 3.5ct and the other was just over 4ct. he said the per carat price would be $200/ct.
this seemed like a lot given that they weren''t chrome tourmalines or paraibas or anything fancy like that. the cuts were fine (not windowed, good meet points) and they were eye clean, but they weren''t anything terribly creative or impressive -- just decent non-windowed ovals with some darkness in the ends.
what is a good way to get a reality check on prices? maybe this is a fairer price for a B&M store than I realize, but I have only bought online in the past. how do i find other "apples" to compare it to?